Second-Half Surge Lifts 10th-Seeded Deacons To 19-point Win

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Lakevia Boykin scored 10 of her 21 points in Wake Forest's second-half run Thursday to lead the 10th-seeded Demon Deacons from a seven-point deficit at the break to an 86-67 victory over No. 7 Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament.

The Deacons (13-18) shot 56 percent from the floor in the second half and advanced to face second-seeded Maryland in Friday's 6 p.m. quarterfinals (RSN). Wake Forest, the only team in the ACC to have won a tournament game in each of the past five years, established school records for points, field goals (34) and victory margin in ACC Tournament play. It also earned the biggest numerical win by any double-digit seed.

"Everyone's 0-0, and anyone can be beat," Boykin said. "That's what makes March so great. And, yeah, we know we hadn't lost in our first-round games."

The Deacs shocked the Jackets with a 23-2 run midway through the second half by forcing turnovers and turning them into quick points. Boykin did much of the damage, including a 3-point field goal on the secondary break that gave her team a 55-54 lead with 13:23 left. The advantage was Wake's first since 10:02 remained in the first half.

That shot brought the Wake bench to its feet but did not end the team's roll. The Jackets committed only two turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, and as a result, Wake Forest was unable to get in transition and was often caught in slow-developing possessions that wound the shot clock under five seconds.

But an aggressive pursuit of every potentially loose ball -- whether on rebounds or in the open floor -- sped up the pace, appeared to disturb Georgia Tech and fueled the surge.

"I can't say enough about our team's effort and focus," said coach Jennifer Hoover, a Wake Forest alum who made her tournament coaching debut. "We talked a lot about being determined and focused and having a refuse-to-lose mentality. Throughout the first half, we battled through that. And in the second half, once we were able to get stops and rebounds, it just got rolling for us."